Wizards' Guild
| upkeep_cost = | sells_for = | effects = Increases a town's Research Points output by . | building_unlock = | unit_unlock = }} The Wizards' Guild is a type of Town Building. The Wizards' Guild may only be built by the High Elves, High Men, Orcs, Beastmen, Dark Elves and Draconians. A town must already contain both the Alchemists' Guild and the University in order to construct a Wizards' Guild. The Wizards' Guild's base construction cost is , making it the most expensive of all Town Buildings. The Wizards' Guild itself provides per turn, applied directly to the current Research effort undertaken by the town's controlling wizard. This is a high amount of research, but for this you must pay and per turn for the building's maintenance, making it almost a 1:1 conversion rate, and not too efficient. Furthermore, for each of the races that can build a Wizards' Guild, this building will unlock one new unit for construction. For most races these are the Magicians, who are powerful Ranged Attack units with a limited spellcasting ability. For the Dark Elves, the new unit is the Warlocks, who are significantly more powerful and can cast a much more deadly spell. As mentioned above, the Wizards' Guild requires an Upkeep Cost of and per turn for its maintenance. It is the only building that requires , and can be considered the most expensive building as a result. If you're pressed for Gold, a Wizards' Guild can be sold back for . Description The Wizards' Guild represents the epitome of intellectual studies into the realm of magic. Both experienced mages and their apprentices can train here and conduct research into new magical spells and techniques. The result is that the use of magic can be explored like any other science, and professional spell-casters can be trained for combat. The Wizards' Guild itself is a large, round tower, constructed of black stone. So much magical energy is focused here that the entire tower glows constantly with a green aura. The roof of the tower is surrounded by battlements, supposedly so that wizards can defend this tower in case of attack without exposing themselves to too much risk. Races and Construction Construction of a Wizards' Guild is available to only 6 of the 14 Races in the game. They are the High Elves, High Men, Orcs, Beastmen, Dark Elves and Draconians. The Nomads, the only other "advanced" race capable of higher reasoning, appear to have no interest in the study of magic itself, and thus cannot build this structure. For those races that can build it, construction of the Wizards' Guild requires a town to first build both an Alchemists' Guild and a University. The Alchemists' Guild provides the first step in the study of magic (particularly magical materials), while the University introduces the idea of scientific exploration of abstract subjects. If either building is missing, the Wizards' Guild cannot be built. In fact, if either building is lost or sold off while the Wizards' Guild is still in construction, the project will be canceled prematurely and cannot be restarted until these required buildings are rebuilt. Construction of a Wizards' Guild costs - making this the most expensive building to construct. Even a highly-developed town will take a while to complete the project, and paying to complete it will cost a hefty sum of unless already nearing completion anyway. As a result, few towns will reach the means to build a Wizards' Guild by the mid-game, and it is rare to see an empire with a Wizards' Guild in each of its towns. Continuous Effects The presence of a Wizards' Guild in a town increases the number of Research Points this town produces by per turn. This is equivalent to putting into Research. Increased Research Points naturally speeds up Research, thus allowing a wizard to acquire new spells more quickly. Of course, this does not take any at all. Instead, the Wizards' Guild has an Upkeep Cost of and per turn to offset this benefit. This gives a total 1:1 ratio between upkeep and benefit. For Alchemist wizards, this is the actual conversion rate, and means that there is no real benefit to building a Wizards' Guild in terms of its research output. Even non-alchemist wizards will only make a small profit, as for them the ratio is closer to 5.5:8, which is still not too exciting. As a result, the Wizards' Guild is often less favoured for its Research output - and rather for its unlocking of the powerful Magicians or Warlocks (see below). Unlocked Town Buildings The Wizards' Guild is the epitome of intellectual development, and is a developmental dead-end. It does not unlock any new Town Buildings for construction. Unlocked Normal Units Once the Wizards' Guild has been completed, the town may now produce one new type of Normal Unit. Most races will receive the Magicians, while the Dark Elves receive their Warlocks. For the High Elves, High Men, Orcs, Beastmen and Draconians, the Wizards' Guild unlocks the production of Magicians. These are powerful Ranged Attack units using a . They can cause plenty of damage at a distance. Furthermore, they are capable of casting the Fireball spell once per battle, without drawing any out of their controller's Mana Pool. On the other hand, Magicians are both expensive and fragile, and thus must be guarded well whenever going into combat. For the Dark Elves, the Wizards' Guild unlocks the powerful Warlocks. Like Magicians they are very powerful with their Ranged Attacks. Instead of a Fireball spell, they can cast the devastating Doom Bolt, which is pretty much guaranteed to cause massive damage to any target. However, Warlocks are even more expensive than Magicians - twice as expensive, in fact. Strategy The Wizards' Guild is the very end of the intellectual development branch. An intellectual town essentially strives to reach this building, for the explicit purpose of creating Magicians or Warlocks (as appropriate). These units will provide powerful support to any army - but should not be sent on their own without escort into dangerous combat since they are also very fragile. The Research Points bonus from the Wizards' Guild is high, but since the building is so extremely expensive to maintain, this is not much of a benefit. If you are not hard-pressed to research quickly, do not build this structure simply for its continuous effects. There is often little need to build more than a few Wizards' Guilds. The first intellectual centers that reach the ability to do so will often be sufficient. Again, the extreme drain on resources, both to build and maintain this structure, make it unwise to build many of them - unless your empire is so well developed already that it can bear the burden. Still, try to limit yourself to only a few of these. Category:Town Buildings